What to watch on Netflix this weekend: The Tech Frontier Edition

Halt and Catch Fire(2014 – present)
It’s the early 1980s and the personal computer boom is in full effect. Behemoth IMB and newcomer Apple rule the industry of oversized “beige boxes.” But in Texas’s “Silicon Prairie”, former IBM executive Joe MacMillan has a vision: make the personal computer portable. He recruits a frustrated computer engineer and a young punk rock-loving prodigy to create a computer of the future. For Joe, nothing is off limits when it comes to realising his dream. Sex, sabotage, and manipulation take centerstage in this tale of David and Goliath. A fascinating throwback, the show offers insight into the early heyday of the technological revolution. Set to a killer eighties punk rock sound track, Halt and Catch Fire makes for a great binge.Chill time:four seasons, 40 hours

Silicon Valley (2014 – present)
For every app on your phone, there are 100 more being created by programers hoping theirs will be the next big thing. From creator Mike Judge (Office Space) comes a deft satire of today’s booming app industry. In California’s fast paced silicon valley, start-ups make millions one day and are shut the next. Living in an “app incubator” (aka a run down house in suburban Palo Alto), a group of bonafide computer nerds are desperately trying to launch a new app, which, while using innovative technology, is difficult to find an everyday use for. Full of witty one-liners by the dweeby stars and hilarious take-downs of today’s biggest tech companies, Silicon Valley is easily one of the funniest shows currently on television.Chill time: four seasons, 19 hours